The Wiz of Odds

Columnists Corner

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: After seven years as the bully, USC is now being bullied.

T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times: A new Cardinal rule: Stanford has better players than USC.

Terry Foster, Detroit News: Rich Rodriguez deserves one more season to turn around Michigan, which has been transformed into the 1980s version of Northwestern — the team you look forward to scheduling for homecoming.

Michael Zuidema, Grand Rapids Press: Barring any NCAA regulations, Rodriguez almost assuredly will return for his third season. But the welcome wagon left Ann Arbor long ago.

Dick Weiss, New York Daily News: Notre Dame's Charlie Weis has lost seven games in a row to top 10 teams and is 1-10 against teams that finished the season in the top 25. He has never beaten a team that finished with fewer than four losses. Those damning statistics, along with two straight home losses to Navy and a loss to a bad Syracuse team last year, have put Weis back on the same hot seat he occupied most of last season.

Cole Manbeack, Manhattan Mercury: What won Kansas State six games cost it the game Saturday against Missouri. Call it whatever you want: Boring, vanilla, conservative — that's what the Wildcat offense was against the Tigers.

Steven M. Sipple, Lincoln Journal Star: Nebraska, warts and all, is on the brink of winning the Big 12 North.

David Climer, Tennessean: Tennessee's 42-17 loss at Mississippi really wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

Columnists Corner

Steven M. Sipple, Lincoln Journal Star: Nebraska’s surging defense shows no signs of letup and Dallas again looks like a probable December destination for Big Red fans hungry to return to the Big 12 title game. Indeed, these Blackshirts are a scary bunch. Perhaps even scary enough to make No. 2 Texas take notice.

Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star: Bill Snyder is making this look way too easy.

Berry Tramel, Oklahoman: Why can't every place be like Lincoln, Neb?

Scott Nulph, Stillwater News-Press: From someone who has covered teams in the Big 12 North and South, there is no comparison. The South is in a different league.

Tom Powers, St. Paul Pioneer Press: There are few less-desirable places to be in midwinter than Minnesota. Detroit is one of them, but that's where the Minnesota Golden Gophers could be headed for a bowl.

Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson is a coach who dares to be great.

Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal: Mike Sanford continues to be the coach most likely to be voted off the island each week, but he made it past another round after Nevada Las Vegas defeated Colorado State.

Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: Alabama might have secured a spot in the Southeastern Conference title game, but the Crimson Tide want something bigger and better.

David Climer, Tennessean: Lane Kiffin wants to go beyond being the most hated coach in the Southeastern Conference. With his team leading Memphis, 14-0, he tried an onside kick. Leading 35-0 in the second quarter, he called a timeout when the Tigers faced a third-and-eight play at their 14.

Walt Moody, Centre Daily Times: Although Penn State is 8-2 and will be favored to finish 10-2, declare 2009 a total loss.

Columnists Corner

Neill Woelk, Boulder Daily Camera: The outcry for Dan Hawkins' ouster is certain to grow louder. A 2-6 season that as recently as Saturday morning still presented the Buffaloes with the legitimate opportunity to contend for the Big 12 North has only solidified a growing call for a coaching change.

Loren Tate, Champaign News-Gazette: Rich Rodriguez stopped by Saturday and took Ron Zook's "hot seat" back to Ann Arbor with him. It's an old story. No matter how serious your problems, someone else is worse off.

Michael Rothstein, Ann Arbor.com: Who knew it would be a U-turn back to 2008? Michigan has looked flat uncompetitive the past two weeks.

Adam Zuvanich, Lubbock Avalanche Journal: Mike Leach has a message for those who were upset with his "fat, little girlfriends" comment. "To those that are offended, I'm offended that you don't think I get to exercise my First Amendment rights, so that makes two of us. That's pretty much all I have to say about that."

David Ching, Athens Banner-Herald: This has been the trend for at least the last season's worth of Georgia football — a span in which the Bulldogs own a 7-6 record. Boatloads of penalties. Awful defense. Confounding midgame lulls where the opponent buries the Bulldogs. It's not getting better.

Chris Dufresne, Eugene Register-Guard: The best team in the country right now wears green and goes "quack, quack." The team has the same name as the state: Oregon.

George Schroeder, Eugene Register-Guard: Should Oregon jump Boise State in the BCS standings? The answer is easy: Yes.

Columnists Corner

Loren Tate, Champaign News-Gazette: It's broke. And coach Ron Zook has no idea how to fix it. Illinois has reached the jumping-off point. Athletic director Ron Guenther has no choice but to consider the unthinkable ... to mull over coaching prospects on his short list ... even as he insists, as he should, that no decision will be made before the end of the the season.

Ed Graney, Las Vegas Review-Journal: On second thought, perhaps Mike Sanford should remain Nevada Las Vegas coach for the next decade or so. These 7 p.m. kickoffs can be tough on the ol' deadline writing skills, but with the Rebels of late, you always have a pretty good idea where things are headed at halftime.

Bob Kravitz, South Bend Tribune: Since when is not getting blown out OK? This tells you how far Notre Dame has fallen. Its once-fickle fan base, who used to demand not only victories but lopsided victories that covered the spread, has been reduced to finding solace in outcomes like Saturday's 34-27 loss to USC at Notre Dame Stadium.

Kurt Streeter, Los Angeles Times: Maybe it's time to start holding the UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel more accountable. We've seen the product he has put together, and it's not quite matching his golden-hued rhetoric. The Bruins, despite some gains, are a team too often plagued by mistakes, mishaps, disjointed play and discombobulation.

Lee Barfknecht, Omaha World-Herald: Now we know why Nebraska, after spring football practice was over, pursued a one-year-eligible quarterback who had been a Duke basketball player.

Bob Hunter, Columbus Dispatch: It's time to take Terrelle Pryor off his pedestal.

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: It was another glorious grind for the unshakable Iowa Hawkeyes.

Columnists Corner

Ray Melick, Birmingham News: It wasn't just that Auburn lost for the first time; it was how the Tigers lost. Despite Auburn players saying all the right things about how Arkansas didn't do anything unexpected, the truth is the Razorbacks were the better prepared team.

Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: Here's a prediction for you: Alabama is headed to Pasadena and the BCS title game.

Mike Sorenson, Deseret News: Admit it, the Mountain West Conference just stinks this season.

David Ching, Athens Banner-Herald: In six of Georgia's last 12 games, the Bulldogs have surrendered at least 35 points. Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno were around to bail out a floundering defense last year, but the warts are more pronounced now that they've left for the NFL and the Bulldog offense is no longer as capable of lighting up a scoreboard.

John Adams, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Georgia didn't just lose Saturday at Tennessee. It could have been mistaken for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the process.

Terry Foster, Detroit News: What's wrong with the Michigan program? He's not sure, but something does not smell right.

Mark Tupper, Decatur Herald & Review: Illinois looks very much like a poorly coached team, right down to all of its annoying penalties. Bottom line: This is a broken team.

Columnists Corner

Ron Higgins, Memphis Commercial Appeal: You've seen the commercial in which the referee peers into the sideline monitor and asks patrons in a private video hookup if they want the game to last a little longer? When they answer "yes," the ref promptly makes a bogus call and later trips a runner. That's the way he felt watching the Louisiana State-Georgia officiating crews whistle a celebration penalty each on each team after both of their final TDs.

Loren Tate, Champaign News-Gazette: The good news: Illinois ended a stretch of 22 consecutive possessions without a touchdown. The bad news: Is any swagger left in the team after three devastating beatings?

Michael Rothstein, Ann Arbor.com: While Michigan can survive and beat Mid-American Conference teams and scrape by against Indiana, the rest of the Big Ten is going to exploit the defense all year long. The run defense was better Saturday against Michigan State, but no one accounted for the quarterback on most plays and any misdirection sent Michigan into miscommunication.

Geoff Calkins, Memphis Commercial Appeal: Mississippi quarterback Jevan Snead had three passes intercepted against Vanderbilt. Next up is Alabama, and if the Rebels are to stand a chance, Snead is going to have to be brilliant and sensational instead of bungling and sputtering.

Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Lack of focus. Failure to execute. That’s what Texas A&M is, and will continue to be, as the season unfolds. After three weeks of sparkling-but-empty statistics, Saturday’s reality check from Arkansas drove home that point. Loud and clear.